12/28/18 12/28/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amamy: from pacifica, this iss democracy nonow! pres. trump: america should not be doing the fighting g for evey nation on earth, not being .eimbursed in manyny cases at al if they want us s to do the fighting, they also have to pay a price, and sometimes that is also a monetary price. so we are not the suckers of the

world. we are no longer the suckers, folks. and people are not looking at us as suckers. amy: president donald trump excess surprise visisit to iraq this w week andd defenses planso withdraw all u.s. troops from syriria and about half the neary 7000 u.s. troops from afghanistan. we will get response from antiwar activist medea benjamin, cofounder of codepink, who said trump should bring the troops home but stop the bombing, too. let's get out of the business of making a killing on killing, and turn our economy into something that is more life affirming. amy: in the war at home. ththe documentary a about antiwr protests inn the 1960's and 1970's has just been released. michael moore e calls it the fim about reresistance. >> i feel like bringiging this story of this one town, madison, wisconsin, and eight year struruggle we felt purslane was our r responsibility to stand up and say y no to that were is really one that would be will

advised to revisit. that is why we decided to bring the fifilm back. amy: we will speak with one of the film's directors, glglenn silberer. first, an update on a major development that could be the path to freedom for journalists and former black panther mumia abu-jamal. a judge has rululed he can n apl his cacase. all of that in more, coming up. welcome e to democraracy now!, democracynowow.org, the war anad peace report. i'm amy goodman. the partial government shutdtdon is entering it seventh day today, and it appears it willl drag into o the new year as president trump insists including 5 m million -- $5 billion r r border w wall fundng befofore he'll agree to o sign y spending measure. he doubled down thursday, tweeting -- "have the democrats finally realized that we desperately need border security and a wall on the southern border.

need to stop drugs, human trafficking, gang members & criminals from coming into our country. do t the dems realize ththat mof the peoplele not getting paid de democrats?" trump has yet to it knowledge migrantcent deaths of two chdren inn u.s. custody. he previously said he would be proud to owown the shutdown over the border wall before shifting blame to the democrats. democrats are set toto take control of the house of representatives in january, which could make passage of a bill which includes border wall funding even more difficult. 800,000 government workers have been furloloughed or are worki without pay. the mother of felipe gomez alonzozo, the eight-year-old guatemalan boy who died while in ththe custody of u.s. customs ad border protection, has spoken out about her son's death. this is catarina a alonzo. >> it was a s surprise when my

husband said that my son died. when i s said goodbybye to him,e was healthy. but there might husband said he died peacefully. they left because of poverty. my husband called a from mexico. he said they had no problem and they were well. gomez alonzo died on christmas eve after becoming ill and feverish while detained at a highway checkpoint with his father. he is the second child to die in u.s. border patrol custody this month. a seven-year-old indigenous guatemalalan girl, jakelinin cal mamaquin, died on dececember 8,o days after she and her father presented themselves at the border in a bid for asylum. a recent report by the center for migration studies found that immigration officials systematically and disproportionately deny medical assistance to migrants who speak indigenous l languages. both jakelelin and felipe come from indigenous communities in guatemala. homeland security secretary

kirstjen nielsen is reportedly set to visit the u.s.-mexico border today as outrage is growing over the deaths of the two migrant children. she came under renewed fire after releasing a statement wednesday placing blame on congress and activist judges for failing to "secure our borders." on thursday, california senator dianne feinstein called for the judiciary committee to hold a hearing, a day after presumptive incoming house speaker nancy pelosi called for investigations by congress and the e department of homeland security. in more immigration news, a federal judge in washington, d.c., ththursday died d a justie -- trump administration request to delay deadlines in an asylum ban case involving six people who were barred from seeking asylum after entering the united states in between legal ports of entry. the trump administration sought put a break on the deadlines citing the government shutdown but judge randolph moss said the deadlines would stand because the case effected the safety off the plaintiffs. in saudi arabia, king salman has

ordered a reshuffle of the cabinet nearly three months after the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi, which caused international uproar and brought saudi leadership under close scrutiny. notably, foreign minister adel al-jubeir was demoted to the positionon of minister of state for foreign affairs. al-jubeir blamed khashoggi's killing on rogue saudi agents. he also previously characterized the international outcry over khashoggi's murder as fairly hysterical. the cabinet shakeup is seen as a boonon to ththe crowown prince y placing loyalists in k key positions. bin salman will retain his roles in the government, including deputy prime minister and defense minister. earlier this month, the senate passed a resolution saying it believes the crown prince is responsible for khashoggi's murder. khashoggi, a u.s. resident and columnist for "the washington post," was killed by saudi agents after entering the saudi consulate in istanbul on october 2. in the democratic republic of congo, political unrest is growing ahead of sunday's planned presidential election. on wednesday, the election

commission said voting in three cities would be postponed until march due e to the threats of ee ebola virus s spreading and ongoing violence in those areas. protesters took to the streets in response to the news, with many saying their votes may not be counted if elections results are announced as planned in january. president joseph kabila was due to s step downwn in 2016 but electionons have been repeatedly postponed. this comes as the government ordered the european u union ambassador to the drc to leave after the eu extended sanctions againsnst a grououp of official, including emmanuel ramazanani shadary, the ruling party's presidential candididate, forr their violent response to protests and for repeatedly delaying elections. the drc is experiencncing one of the e deadliest ououtbreaks of ebola, with health officials rereporting overer 350 dead so . in sudan, scores o of people hae been killed inin anti-government protests that ererupted last we. government officials put the number of dead at 19 though amnesty international said

earlier this week the number of dead reached 37. the government has declared a state of emergency and reportedly censored or shut down newspapers thahat were covering the demonstrations. the protests, which were triggered by a sharp rise in the price of bread, are taking aim at the worsening economic situation of the country and the military regime of president omar hassan al-bashir, with many calling for the overthrow of the ruling national congress party. on thursday, a philadelphia judge ruled that imprisoned former black panther mumia abu-jamal can re-argue his appeal in the case before the pennnnsylvania supreme court.. the judge cited then-chief justice ronald castille's failure to recuse himself from the case due to his prior role as philadelphia district attorney when abu-jamal was appealing his casese. abu-jamal was coconvicted of the 1981 mururder of philadelphia police officer daniel l faulknk, but has always maintained his innocence. abu-jamal's lawyers argued that statements castille made about people accused of killing police officecers indicated he should have recuseded himself.

in 2011, abu-j-jamal was s sentd to life without parole. we'll have e more on this stotoy after heheadlines with one of te coordinatorsrs of the campaigngo mumia home but named johanna fernrnandez. in ohio, republican state legislatats failed t to muster enough voted to pass the ultra restrictivive abortion law known as the heartbeat bill by overriding o outgoing republican governor john kasich's veto of the bill last week. kasich, who has signed over 20 anti-abortion bills while in office, argued the legislation would be considered unconstitutional. the heartbtbeat bill would bar abortions after r a fetal heartbeat is heard, , which can happen as early as six weeks into a a pregnancy.. last week, govererr kasich signeded a bill banning dilation and evacuation -- the most commonly used ababortion methodn the second t trimester. outgoing republican congressmember bob goodlatte h s blocked legislation aimed at improving federal response to the murders and disappearances

of natative americanan women. the bill w was sponsored by sesenator heheidi heitkamp of nh dakota and passed unanimously in the senate this month but goodlatte's role as chair of the judiciary committee allows him to block voting on it in the house. senator heitkakamp is exiting te senate after losing g her reelection bid last month, but republican senator lisa murkowski of alaska has vowed to bring the bill back in the new year. the bill is called savanna's act, named after savanna lafontaine-greywind, a member of the spirit lake tribe who was brutally murderered last year wn she was eight months pregnant -- her unborn baby cut out of her womb while she was reportedly still alive. the failure to pass savanna's act comes as funding expired for the violencece against womomen t , which is aimed at h helping women whwho've sururvived domesc assault,and sexual amid the o ongoing g government shutdown.. in mississipippi, the e family a 37-year-old african n american woman whwho died sunday while in jail is demanding answers and say they suspect foul play.

lanekia michelle brown was arrested during a traffic stop in november and was awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges in prison. brown reportedly complained of stomach pains shortly before her death. her family says she was in the earlststages of a pregnancy. ananin new yorork city, the famd times square new yeaear's eve celebration will honor t the committee to protect journalists thisis year. tim tompkins, president of the times s square alliance, said de group chose cpj to "celebrate the free press and journalism and those who work to protect, preserve and practice it." journalists will join in the celebrations, helping to kick off the anticipated ball drop countdown to the new year. in its recently released annual report on murdered journalists, cpj found that at least 53 journalists s were killed on the jojob this year, 34 in repeprisl for their work -- almost doubling the n number of targetd murders agaiainsjojournasts s in 2017.

and those are some of the headlilines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace reportrt. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show with major developments i could be the path to freedom for former black panther mumia abu-jamal. he is the award-winning journalist who was convicted of the 1981 murder of philadelphia police officer daniel faulkner but has always maintained his innocence. on thursday, a philadelphia common pleas court judge ruled mumia can reargue his appeal in the case before the pennsylvania supreme court because then-chief justice ronald castille failed to excuse himself from the case due to his prior role as philadelphia district attorney when abu-jamal was appealing his case. abu-jamamal's lalawyers argued t statements castille made about people accused of killing police officers indndicated he shouould haveve recuseded himself. they cited campaign speecheses d letters he wrote that calllled r

the death penalty y in such cas. abu-jamal spent nearly thrhree decades on d death row befefores sentence in ththe shootingng deh of officer daniel faulkner was thrown out ovever flawed jurury instructions.. prosecutors then agreed in 2011 to a sentence of life without parole. judge tucker's decision on thursday was split because he denied abu-jamal's claim that castille had "personal significant involvement" in the case while he was in the district attttorney's office. for more, we're joined here in new york by johanna fernandez, a professor of history at baruch college-cuny, and one of the coordinators of the campaign to bring mumia home. she has been in the courtroom for part of this case, and is the editor of "writing on the wall: selected prison writings of mumia abu-jamal." professor r fernandez, welcocome back to democracy y now! can yoyou talk about the significance of thursday's

ruling? >> this is a case that is impoportant for mumia abu jamal, but also for dozens of people sitting in prison in pennsysylvania. essentially, the judge establblished that if there is prejudice in a h hearing, the defendant has the right to a new hearing.g. and he essentially ruled broadly on the issue of judicial bias and impartiality in the courtroom. that is really important because the williamsms issue, which is e hise that mumia and attorneys presented, , is very narrow. it essentially establishes thatt in order to get releleased, you have to prprove to the court tht a p prosecutor-turned judge had previously been involved in a in thecant decision

case. that is a very narrow issue to prove. the judge stepped back and he said, well, we cannot prove that there was a significant involvement in a major decision in the case because the das office lost the e files. however, it is verery clear that this judge made comments in public that were improper, that he lobobbied on the issuee of lw and order -- in fact, he ran on this issue. he made statemements aboutut seg "a clear and dramatic message" to "cop kilillers" that the deah penalty will be usesed against them. and all of these things, including g the facact that this judge received funding from the paternal orderer police, the sae realization that in t the 1990's was hell-bent on executing mumia

, that essentially paints a clear picture of partiality.y. amy: so talk about what t exacty thisis means. >> so o this means that if the liberal da aa philadelphia, someone who was elected on ththe issue of the horrors of the criminal justice system in philadelphia, if he does not challenge the judge''s decision, mumia will immediately be eligible to present all of the violations that he had previoususly presented before te pennsylvania supreme court. and ththose violations are many. aey include the fact that court stenographer was overheard saying to -- was overhrheard t e saying, "iis case,

am going to help them fry the nigger." it includes another violation policesentially the tamperered with evidence and manufactured evidence in order toto obtain a conviction in muma ''s case. it also o includes the violation that the p prosecutor hid evidee from the defefense and from thte jury. essentially, thehere was a fourh person at the crime scene. ththe presence of that perersont trial wawas suppressed by thee prosecutor joe mcgill. so t these and many otother violations that essentialally violated mumia's constitutional rights were denied by judge castille. when mumia presented these on appeal, because there was an imprpropriety in the conduct of judge castille bebecause he was prejudice, now mumia is le to

present all of those vioiolatios again. his case can n be heard once again, and the violations connected to hiss conviction wil court.d in this has not happened in the casese of mumia abu-jamal. the courts of not allowed mumia to really challenge in a significant way any of the hisations connected to conviction.. they have only a allowed his attorneys to essentially address the issues c concernining his sentence. amy: so the question is, will the district attorney now, consider this new generation of district a attorneys around the country as represesented many groups from black lives matter , would heas a lawyer appeal, number one, what he is considering now, and if there

was a trial, would you prosecute mumia a abu-jamal? >> right. well, i think the judge, leon tucker, essentially presented a case that will be very difficult for larry k krasner to challeng. he essentially said in order for the criminal justice system to stand, justice must be completely jusust. thosose were his w words. and it isis very cleaear in this case and in this issue of judicial bias that there was a no justice, that there was impartiality. d there isis going to be in an enormous amount of pressure on larry krasner by the fraternal order of police to chahallenge thisis decision. but at some point, the people of philadelphia havave to stand up krasner to demand that

do the right thing in this case, that he not uphold what is known as the mumia excxception. that j judges and courts have bn willing to overturn precedent in order toto keep the facts in mua 's case from sing the light of day. amy: in october, the widow of the philadelphia officer daniel faulkner was ordered removed from a courtroom after she protested the judge's decision to extend mumia's appeal hearining. the philadelphia inquirer reported maureen faulkner stood up and cried out to the judge -- "with all due respect, your honor! i have another 30 days that i have to go through this pain and suffering?" as she was ordered removed, she said "38 years! this is wrong!" the judge said the court was sensitive to both sides but wasn't going to rush to judgment and added -- "no matter how long it takes, this court is going to do the

right thing." were you in the courtroom in october? >> i was. it was a very y dramatic momentn the hihistory of this case. it was an important moment because for the e first time, a judge essentntially said that te supporters, but also the family of m mumia abu-jamalal, hahas at to have e this issueuereated fairlyly in the case. ththat had not really y happen befofore. at the very last hearing, we had another very dramatic development. the fraternal order of police, maureen faulconer, and thee original prosecutor inin the cae joe mcgill, were present.t. they were alallowed into the courtroom before anynyone else. alloweden we were finally

ininhe courtroroom, includuding mumia abu-jamal's brbrother kekh cook come who served in the military in the united states,, ththe courtroom was filled with white people. jim crorows a completely seating. supupporterers,umia's the majority of whom are blackck and brown, including his family members, were forced to sit in the back of the courtroom. so this is really the atmosphere and the message that thee philadelphia establishmentnt s t , that he shouldld essentiaially be careful about e decision he was about to make. r ruled inge, in f fact, fafavor of justice. and we are demanding that larry krasner live up to that standardrd, the statandard thate promiseded the people of

philadelphia -- a city that is known for imprisoning the majority of black and brown .outh in the country so philadelphia is the city that imprisons the majority of black and brown youth. this is the city that has also imprisoned and attempted to silence the mostst important political prprisoner in the history of the united states, essentially, the nelson mandela of our timime. so if therere is a big tree in this case, in the case of a man who has been demonized for centrally illuminating the truth about black oppression, about the capapitalism and impmperial, a man who is mild-mannenered but unwiwilling toto comprpromise wh justice, this is the reason why he has been d demonized by the police. if there is a victory in this case, the entire apparatus of criminal justice in philadelphia and pennsylvania and the country

will be under the micicroscope.. amy: i want to go back to 202013 when democracy now! spoke to livivebu-jamal in aa rare intervieiew from the prison he s in at the time pennsnsylvania , statate correctional institution, mahanoy. this wasas after an appeals cout upheld his conviction in 2011, but vacacated his death sentenc. he had been n on death row for decades. what itmumia abu-jamal meant in the longer be on death row. >> well, i could, but i would be lying. i call this slow death throw. life and pennsylvania means life. pennsylvania has one of the largest life populations of any state in the united states. it had the distinction of having the absolute highest number of juvenile lifers, of any state in the united states -- indeed, of any jurisdiction in the world.

so that should give you some sense. amy: so that is mumia abu-jamall speaking in 2013. he was moved -- he no longer faces the death penalty. life without pararole is what he faces now. in general population. what abobout his health, profesr fernandez? >> about two or three years ago, mumia collapsed in prison and was rushed to the hospital.l. he was neaear death. ,fter r six months of t tests medical l tests, one o of ourr doctors who randomlyly went in d lookoked at mumia, essentitially established he had hepatitis c. as you know, hepatitis c is a deadly disease that affects the liver. ct becausese treating hepatitis and curiring it costss approximately $100,000, the pennsylvlvania prisons essentiay decided they would not treat

700,000 the p proximally other prisoners s with hepatitis c. we filed a s suit, even n though attorneys insisted this was an uphill battle and we would not win. we secureded a victoryry and we secured treatment of hepatitis c. mumia is now cured of hepatitis c, but also this was a precedent -setting ruling that has opened up the possibility for prisoners in pennsylvania and across the country toto get treated and cud of hepatitis c. mumia i is doing better. he is back to health. he has got many issues. currently, he is a problem with his sight. hehe has g glaucoma. ps to get the best treatatment,s do other prisoners.. he said life in prison is

essentially a sentence of death. for him and for the thousands sf other p prisoners in p pennsylva and around thehe country. amy: we will contitinue to follw thisis case as now a judge hass ruled thatatumia abu-jamal can appeal his case. we want to thank johanna fernandez, profesessor of histoy at baruch college-cuny and one of the coordinators ofof the campaign to bring mumumia home. she is the editor of "writing on the wall: selected prison writings of mumia abu-jamal." this is democracy now! when w we come back, we e will e joined by anantiwar activist m a benjamamin to o get reresponse n president trump saying he is pulling troops out of afghanistan and syria. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: the temptations. vocals passed away this year at the agage of 7 74. this is demomocracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president donald trump paid a surprise visit wednesday to a sprawling military base in western iraq. trump was joined by first lady melania trump, as the president posed for selfies with troops and autographed red "make america great again" hats. it was trump's first visit to an active war zone since he took office nearly two years ago. during a speech to soldiers, trump defended his plans to withdraw all u.s. troops from syria and about half of the nearly 700000 u.s. troopops in afafghanistan. pres. trump: america should not be doing the fighting for every nation o on earth, not being all.ursed in n many casases at if they want us to d do the fighting, they also have to pay a price -- and sometimes that is so we areetary price, not the suckers of the world. we are no nger the suckers,, folklks. and people are not lolooking ats as sectors. amy: but trump said he has no plans to withdraw the more than 5000 u.s. troops who remain in

iraq. duduring his brief trip,rurump d not meet with iraqi prime minister adil abdul-mahdi or any other iraqi officials. in a statement, a bloc o of irai parliamentarians condemned trump's visit as a "flagrant a d clear r violation of diplomatic norms." well, for momore, we go to miam, flororida, where we're joined by antiwar leader medea benjamin, cofounder of codepink her recent piece for salon.com is headlined "bring the troops home -- but stop the bombing too." she is also author o of "kingdom of the unjust: behind the u.s.-saudi c connection." welcome back to democracy now! why got you start off by responding to what the president has laid out in the last week, pulling all u.s. troops out of syria, half the troops out of afghanistan? >> i thinknk that is a a positie move, and i think we should be asking for more. we should say we want the troops -- all the troops out of afghanistan. we want to challenge donald trump in what he is saying by

pointing out that he continues to support the war in yemen and the repressive saudi regegime, that he has put us in a dangerous course with iran by pulling the u.s. out of the iran nuclear deal. he continues to support more and more mononey to be staggering pentagon budget. we should d be challenging all f these things and not let him be seen as the "antiwar president posed which he is not. but we need the democrats and others to come out and they we want a real peace plan to u.s. foreign-policy. amy: i wanant to turn to some of the clips, not of republicans, but of demococrats who were condemning whatt presidentnt trp has proposed. for example, let's go to house democratic leaeader nancncy peli who condemned trurump's decision to withdraw troops. with putin.

imagine that is a comment of vladimir putin on the actions taken by t the president o of te united states and relationship to syria. an action taken without the benefit of the thinking of our national security establishment and our intelligence community included in that, a decision made in a cacavalier fashion in terms of our allies in the fight against terrorism -- - a decisin that is dangerous. amy: and this is senator jeanne shaheen ofof new hampshire speaking on msnbc after trump announced e e troowiwithdrawals. >> i thinknk thihis will be considered one of the worst foreign-n-policy blunders s of s century.y. certainly, of this century to date. been completetely defeated. we know ththere is a stronghold where there is still active fighting going on.n. we k know there aree thousanan f

ices figighters who have melted back into villages. amy: that was senator jeanne shaheeeen and before that was te person expecected to be the houe speaker come january, nanancy pelosi. medea benjamin, your response? >> the biggest blunder of the century was the invasion of iraq, which jeanne shaheen was in favor of. it is very unfortunate there are still members of the d democratc party y that voted for the iraq war that are poised to be in very important positions i in governmement right now. we of steny h hoyer as s the majority leaeader, in favor of e iraq war. we have elliott, who was going to be the foreign affairs committee chair, not only in favor of the iraq war, but he was one of the few democrats against the iran nucleaear he is in favor of moving the u.s. embassy toto jerusalalem and is. yet people like adadam smith who is going to be the head of the foreign affairs committee, took

over $250,000 from thehe weapons industry. and only s shifted his positionn saudi arabia, for example, because he was chahallengedd frm the left. we have democrats in high positions who have been pro-war. many o of them v vote everery yr this incredibly ininflated pentntagon budget. and they have to be challenged and they are being challenged by some of the very wonderful democrats we have like ro khanna who hahas been a tremendous champion to try to stop the war in yememen, anwhwhere the wonderful incoming members of congress w who have to have the same energy and determinationn that they have around a new green deal to say we need a new peacace deal. amy: i want to go back to president trump, this t time his comments in iraq to u.s. troops. syriatrurump: rebuilding will require a political solution, and it is a solution

that should be paid for by its very rich neighboring countries. not the united states. let them pay for it. and they will. they will. ,n fact, saudi arabia yesterday you probabably read, steppeded o the plate and has already made a commitment of substantial funds for development. of turkeyent erdogan has also a agreed to te e out ay we will l besis, , and working with them. amy: let''s talk about this, medea a benjamin. let's talk a about the u.s. trs being pulled out of syria and what he is saying about saudi arabia. he referred to saudi arabia as saudi a when he tweeted and said they will be financing the rebuilding of syria. this also as the saudi regime has apparently been reshuffled with once again mohammed bin

salman further consolidating power.r. > well,l, i think this is sir toto t trump saying mexico i isg to pay for the wall. pledged in n april a pittance, one hundred million dollars for the r rebuildining f syria, which is supposed to cost sosomewhere around $200 billion. -- what they really need to do is stop the bombing in yemen and a for the rebuilding of yemen. the u.s., this is where we diverge with trurump, should be paying reparations i in iraq and syria and afghanistan for all of the damage that we have caused. a saudi arababia is not goiningo be doing it t all stop amy: andd what about the u.s. relationship with saudi a arabia right nonow? administration, but jared kushner and the prpresident, s still remaining, clearly, extrtremely clclose toe saudi regime, , this even asas e

cia says it has determined with high confidence that mohammed bin salalman was involved with e in n the jamal khashoggi saudi consulate in istanbul, turkey, october 2 -- thee significance of this? >> it is quite extraoaordinary that the president continues to cling to mohammed bin salman instead ofoioing wt otherers in the republicican party are doing of saying -- singling him out as a problem. wewe are saying it i is the ente saudi regime, not mbs himself, that is the problem. we are makaking tremendous gains in congress to send that message. there will be a new vote in both the house and senate to stop u.s. support for the saudi warar in yemen. there also was a unanimous voice votete in the senate to c conden mom m invents, foror being respsponsiblble for ththe murdef khashogg thisis is a historic turnrn inse

the cocongress where it has tremendous -- traditionally been in favor of sauaudi arabia. we have to use this moment and go further, push for a a cut off inin weapons sales to saudi araa , and really use this as a time to realign the united states away from its very destructiveve relationship with saudi arabia and d to have a a more nuanced relationship in the middle east, including one where we are not on the vergege of f trying to me the iran economy collapse and agoing for a war in iran for normal trade relationships and diplomatic relationships with iran. but is our moment to do it, we need democrats to step up and take this position. amy: into those concerned about what will happen to the kurds that have been the allies fighting in syria against isis alongside the u.s., the president trump had a

conversasation with the e turkih arranged erdogogan, they a patriot missile sale too turkey. the u.s. out because they want to go after the kurds in syria from turkey. >> unfortunately, this i is a moment whehen the kurds are in more danger. it is not sosomething that came out of t the blue. they knew this for the last year because trump had been t talking about it and they had started negotiations with the steering government to try to get protection there because the searing government doesn't want the e kurds to come -- thehe tus to come into syria as well. but we in the international community should be doingng tremendous outcry now to stop the turkisish government from ndnding troops into s syria. we should do that at the uninitd nations.s. we should be doing t that in f t of turkish embassies around the

world. this is the time for us to step up as a world commununity to s y no to a turkish invasion of the kurds. amy: and your respononse to a piece today and "the new york your thoughts? >> they've got a strange definition of the left.. i would say it is some of the liberal democrats and many of them have come out against the withdrawal because trump is doing it. but i think -- t this is our momentnt to shine. this is our momoment as the real left to step u up and s say, wed a totatal revision i in of u.s. foforeign policy. we need to look atat the budget particularly t that is ovever $0 billion, and if you put the add-ons in, it is over $12020. we have to stop the trillionn dollllars we supposesed to be spending over the next decadadeo modernize our nuclear weapons. this is the moment for the real

leftft to comeme forward and say divest from the war r machine. people can go to ourur websisito find out how they can help. amy: medea benjamin, thank you for being with us co-founder of , codepink and author of "kingdom of the unjust: behind the u.s.-saudi connection." we will link to your piece at salon.com "bring the troops home -- but stop the bombing too." back, we go back to the antiwar protest of the 1960's and 1970's, particularly in madison, wisconsin. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amamy: "for what it's worth" b y buffalo springfield. this is democracy now!, demomocracynow.o.org, the war ad peace report. i'm amy goodman. we and today shohow with "the wr at home." that's the name of a classic 1979 documentary aboutut anti-wr protests in the 1960's and 1970's in madison, wisconsin. the academy award nominated film is now getting a second life with the release of a newly restored print of the film. michael moore recently praised the film calling it one of the best documentaries ever made. macklemore wrote -- "the film about resisistance." this is the trailer for "the war at home." >> what you plan to burn your personal cckck in ont t ofhe ternal r renue serervice building here e inadisononhis nning? >> i w wld like e to protest agait thencome tax system cause that is we most of the money goes. 10% is earmarked e especlly y fr vivietna whichch i see as in yor

moral -- immoralal war.. amy: that's the trailer for "the war at home." and for those who are just listening on audio, it's the images of mass proteststs and te images of war and bombing in vietnam. the fi was jusrestorednd rereleased. well, recentntly ,democracy no's nermeen shaikh a and i sat down with one of f the fifilm's directors, glenn silber, a two-time academy award nominee, to talk about t its contemporary significance. i began by asking glenn why he focused d on one towown and one city, madison, wisconsin. >> codirector valley -- very alexander brown and i lived through this experirience. i was there as a college student . amy: at ththe university of wiscsconsin. >> d dairy had gone e to high sl there. or me it was having experienced that very intense antiwar movement that changed my life. i really felt we had lived

through a storyy that had to be preserved. itit had to be put on film becae i think k that is s the best wa- there is no book you can read that will give you the same sense of that tenure experience in madison. think the e best way to tell that story was to usese our community as a a microcosm of te whole periodod. every single thing that had happened anywhere in the country happen in madison. from the very first antiwar demonstration in 1963 wororrieso the protesters wearing suits and tities to four years later weree will see a clip may be of f the demonstration and then as things got more intense after kent state -- john amy: let's go to the dow demonstration. ththis is october 18, 1967.. of the most important demonstrations ever. the university inviteded the makers of napalm, that horriblee weapon of war that should have been outlawed to begin with -- this gel that burns s people to

death -- invited them on the campus so they couould rececruit more fututure nanapalm makers. i think it is important because the university of wisconsin, the antiwar m movement was focused n this. it became a moral issue. it was two years of organizing just a around that issue. when dow chemical came to ththis collegege, the students were ready. they s said we are going to blok you. fromthe movemenent move protest to resistance. up to that pointnt, the protes's work has a resistance, taking our cues from civil rights movements. but with dow, they true a line and they were not going to be ququite as easy to go. this time they also o met some reession they neve saw before. amy: clip of "the r at home." tothe universitwas goingg prprotect out. thplplan w peoeoplwere g going too up to the comrce building, sit downanand the gerd.. time, at thetha stag of conscious active

resistancece. therere was a raight determination toesist bebeing moved from the building ifif the lilice eerered. >> allhey did was come a four or five at a time with club swinng and jt t beathe hell t of eveonone. ththey jt wept down the corridor. >> everyone ran for i it. >> the proroblem transfeferred itself. >> the whole e place was like a war zone. >> the criritical moment was the crowd began n toather. class s wereustt over when the psps moved in. they used tear g.. something like 4 4000 or 500kiks being affect..

suddenly, alall ofhese fin mile-clala kids athehe iverersi off wisconsin are being teaeaas and clulubbed. is a timef i shocor what,ut thereas an awful lof piticalizion the took pce and tt 15 to 2020 mites whwhen the cs just let go with h everything they had. a c clip from "the word home" about the dodow chemical protest at the university of wisconsin. glenn silber, talk about this moment. > it w was a real turning po. the antiwar mode meant in madison -- movement in madison and ashshley they confronteded e pepentagon and the was a a conft like this, but dow chemical of you know, the university was so stupid. they should have just had their little recruitmement often thehe hiltlton or something.

sometimes in movements, i think there are moments when somemethg unexpepectedappened. you and a were very involved in the central america crisis. no one thought it was a good idea to o rate and murderr four became athat t is what turning point to wake people up. amy: and before that, the killing of archbishop romero who is now been -- >> a saintnt. one of the lessons i get out off looking at the war at home today is there is a relationship between a smaller core of people that are the most dedicated organizers and in this case,e, w we can affect 5000 people. because of the overreaction of police. this became a rallying cry. i did nonot get to madison until one year later. it was still resonating. he changed the character. character.ed the it was not like we're gng t to run n ound andnd throw rocks, bt it is going to be a more resistancece. i think en you lk k back a at this whole period a are talngng about fotoday is s the antiwarr

vement aits base is an eight year, sustaiained political resistance campaign with one goalal in mind. it was very focused -- stop the war. last week we learned that general was morlan was planning to move nuclear weapons into vietnam and the fact that johnson, was about ready to declare he would not do it, shows the antiwawar movement had more power than we even knew at the time. i feel lilike by bringing the fl back today, there isis so much u can learn n about our recent pa. i think thee p political culture that came out of that period is still with us today. it is what allows us to have these critical demonstrations of the women's marches or even occupy wall street or the never again gunun violence. i feel like by bringing the story of this one town, madison, wisconsin, and the eight year struggle, that we felt purslane was our responsible to stand up and say no to that war, is

really one that would be well advised to revisit. that is why we decided to bring the film back right now. nermeen: let's shshow more of tt story in madison, wisconsin. another clip from the film "the war at home." you'll hear from allen ginsberg. first, the chief inspector of the madison police e hermon thomomas. >> it isis no secret the police were called pigs.s. we did not mind that soo much.h. t the undercover operationsns, i dedecided to nae ouour offfficers that worked hogs.over after brds of th worked t very wl. they wouldld sign the reports ba pig name. around 68 instituted a grand mterr plan

toonfuse and disruhe movement and the new left. i ve here a copy of their mamasterlanf jul5, 1960 eight, which ia a 12 pnt programo be undemoctitic, basicall for the cret pole to disrupt publiconversatn. heriffs partmentad people workingndndercor. the university protectnn security had people e working undercover, so to the depapartme of justice, the fb and eve military intntelligee. all o oit togetr. nermn: that s hermanthomas and befo tha renowneoet ," talki about ing heavy involv in the antiwar protest. he had just received documents about cointelpro. washe funny thing is, alan

in town for a poetry reading. i am a distant relative of his. i went and said, you're here in 1966. we wanted to go back to that spot. we had the whole scene w went to cut because it was too long. it was a hit begin, like peace and love in 1 1966. he was chantingg and all of thee people were dancing. it was lovely, but it was too lolong so we cut the scecene. he said, there's something own to tell l you about, new documes about the governrnment's cointelpro, reprpressive undermining the antiwar movement through all of the techniques they had to make them look ridicuculous and ridicululed. that made it into the film. we were in wisconsin and elsewhere e becoming a bit of a threat to the war plan, so much they had to do this sort of insidious ananti-democratic behavioror. i think one of the things looking back -- when you're so

clclose in the middle of a movement, it is hard to get a perspepective on it and you do't see how some of f these events e perfectly connnnected.d. now that we are a full 50 years away from the things he is talking about, you can really step back and have a a better appreciation. when we were m making the film,e werere very young. i was in my 20's the entire time, as was my partner. we felt at theime, this is our stor ople said it is too soonoo ll t the story, y y do what another 20 to 30 yeaears. we said, no, w we don't want someonelse to tell ourtotory. thisis is gointo be a f fight fr the historical memorof that periodod and thais what is s so importan the's another lmlm abo berkey, , but ey t tal about other isissues " stancece. homeme different now. it plays songer no i was the, we're in this zeitgeist for eveveryone i know

wants to be part of the resistance. i went from being very depressed about ththe election anand in kd of a funk like a a lot of his work, to very inspired by the women's marches. then i started asking myself, what can i contribute to the resistance? the answer came pretty quickly. amy: it came in a number of boxes. talked about where you got this archival footage. clearly these cameras riright in the police officers faces, not the interviews you do after, but when they are beating up the students. >> thahat is an n amazing story. i decidided and comommitted personally, i'm going to make this film someheh. i was not even 25 years old. ii started t to collecect photo, audio. i went every week to the historical socieiety of wiscons. they hadad very little. pretty clolo to these e events. then one day the head of the society, film and photo percent, get over herere, i think this

might be your lucky day. he said, we just got a collllection and from wkokow ant is all of the footage shot from 1959 to 1972 on a daily basis. cacar crash on intnterstate 90, dairy associaiation convention,0 students holdiding pickets. for the local news people, this was a curiosity, these protests. there is been a little civil rights stuff, but nothing like this with our own n students. this one is director blake kellog, who just passed would last week at 88, had the historical perspective of understanding that what he had done was important. he did not want it thrown out. but they had been storing all of this materiaiain a shed.d. when my friend picked it up, it was such a mess. it was ridiculous. it was like boxes and boxes and boxes. you did not hear barry's story. he said if you will catalog it,

fix the splices, tell u us whats there, we will let you have itit for free. like a s sweat equity y deal. when i got this colllleague of mine to come back and this with me, the very first box very open up wasas the dow demononstratio. other networks, cigna could get a tax write off if they contributed their video, their film to the historicacal society -- google amounts. all ofof a sudden we had like 10 boxes of zones, , no one knew wt it was about, and we had this deal with the historical society. i'm pretty sure this is the first documentary film ever almost exclusively the visual element that a lot of the archive cocomes from local tvv moves -- news. amy: let's go to anotother clip from "the war at home," which features vietnam vets, like ron and al who we hear from first. and we came back from thehe war

the e vironment here w hososti , eecially to .. ople i ithe peacmoveveme were down on u peopop who wererfor ththwar were down on us >> iuess i gvivitatetoward vets for peace a as an organizationn terms of involvement and the a antiwar moveme a at that poin we have some credilility as guys who habeen in vieam coming back and saying, hey, , it is t working, they'reyingng to you, the light atat the end of the tunnel ain''t there,e, folks. it is e day in, , day ou routine e conduct of the war and he sings kind of happen in vietnam. they are happening. amy: that isis ron carbon and 'l jenkins. talk about what happened then, the mix of the bit now more veterans, the atmosphere come the feeling toward soldiers whwo had come home and the students.

>> i think there's a little bit of a myth i want to clear up, this idea that protesters were spitting on gis. i don't think that has ever actually really happen. if it did, no one was cording it. of course, when we talk aboutut the warn vietnam, it is, in my vi, , a criminalal enterprise wn you think about carpet bombing, tens of billions of bombs being dropped, agent orange, napalm. but i never blame the gis who were senent er therere and who were on the front lines, not by choice, but because j johnson ad mcnamara and presisident nixon were prosecuting a a war. amy: that is glenn silber, two-titi academy award nominee, cocodirector of " "the war at h" film was just restored and rereleased n nationwide. watch our full interview with glenn silber at democracynow.org . new tuned for our two year's specials on monday and

tuesday. noam chomsky and four days in western sahara africa's last colony. that does it for our show. all of us at democracy now! wish you a happy, healthy new